First Day

Welcome to your English 2132 course! I hope this semester will be both fun and challenging for you! Your professor's name is Dr. Matthew Horton (that's me!), but you can call him Dr. H. I have high hopes that this semester will help you improve your skills as a college-level reader and writer.

Click on these icons and see what you can do! This course is about reading great literature, but I also want to make you familiar with some useful technology that can help you discover new possibilities. Keep in mind, these tools are just for your benefit--the only required one is Google Drive:



Also, go ahead and look through some of the most important resources on this course website:

Read the syllabus
Check the calendar
Using Google Drive

Other resources are available by clicking the tabs across the top and various links in the right-hand margin. As much as you can, familiarize yourself with this course website. My contact info is in the right-hand margin at well, towards the top.

Syllabus - Fall 2015

Description of Course
English 2132 is American Literature II, a 3-credit hour course offered by the English Department in the College of Arts and Letters that fulfills the Area C "Literature" requirement. You must have earned a "C" in English 1102 before you can take this course.

In this course, you can achieve the following goals:

• Learn methods for measuring the value of selected works of American literature.
• Understand the intersection between appreciation, evaluation, and enjoyment.
• Apply characters and dramatic situations to important ethical questions:
  
  • How do we define human goodness and excellence?
  • In what ways do the standards of goodness and excellence shift and change?
  • What sorts of conflict between values give rise to ethical crisis?
• Interpret characters and dramatic situations as examples of ethical complexity:
  
  • What sorts of choices do characters or speakers make?
  • What sorts of values do characters or speakers defend?
  • What motivates them to make those choices or hold those beliefs?
  • Where does their confidence come from?
• Become proficient in responsible reading.
• Learn literary terms to help you engage with the literature we read
• Analyze works of literature with thoughtful and developed written responses
• Become proficient in identifying and describing various elements of film
• Develop confidence discussing literature with your classmates

Calendar

Reading Notes for assigned readings are due at the beginning of class on their deadline days. Quote Responses will be submitted through Google Drive. Click on each agenda item to read additional details (if any) about the assignment. Please be aware that printing this calendar will hide the details for each item, so be sure to check the digital calendar often.

Page numbers refer to The Norton Anthology required for this course. When online versions are available, I will usually let you know in the description. If the assignment is a handout, you can get it here.

Extra Credit

You can earn bonus points all semester, but they will only count if you have turned in all of your Quotes Responses and Reading Notes. You can turn these assignments in on time (for credit) or late (for no credit), but they must be done and complete in order for extra credit points to kick in. Your extra credit points will accumulate even if you have missing assignments, but they will not be calculated into your grade as long as you have missing assignments.

• Discussion Notes
• Additional Readings

Readings

Required Readings

Almost all of the required reading selections can be found in the Norton Anthology of American Literature, 8th Ed. Volumes C, D, E. Check the calendar for page numbers and to know when we are reading each work. Additional reading assignments can be downloaded here. All reading assignments will be the basis for reading notes and small-group class discussions.

Assignments

• Reading Notes
• Quote Responses